I turned reality into a romantic comedy

Unlike Lin Mu, who habitually maintains a certain aloofness in front of others due to her good upbringing, Xu Youwei speaks much more casually. She even plays with two oval magnets stuck together in one hand while drawing in the other, turning them around in her palm like walnuts, making a crisp sound.

"Each class submits four names, so there should be at least two who will be selected. Weiwei should have confidence in herself."

"Even if there are two as backups, it will probably be the class monitor and Chen Junqian. They both have better grades than me and are more outgoing. But even if I don't get selected, it will still be an interesting experience that I can record in my diary."

"Does Weiwei actually have the habit of keeping a diary?"

"Yes, if Mumu wants to write, I'll bring you a diary with a combination lock from home tomorrow. That way, you won't have to worry about other people seeing it. As the saying goes, if you have something, you can post it on QQ Space. If you have something, you just want yourself to see it. It can also help you practice your writing skills."

Although she really wanted to say that the other person's Chinese score wasn't as good as hers, Lin Mu felt that she had a lot more things she wanted to write in her diary for herself these past two days, so after hesitating for a while, she nodded and agreed.

But then she thought, even if she didn't spend the day with Xu Youwei, she still had to wait for Chen Junqian, otherwise what would she eat for dinner?

"Then I'll cheer you on from outside. When you finally become a Young Pioneer, just secretly let me into school when I'm not wearing my red scarf."

"I'd like to, but there are always four students checking at the school gate every day. But if Mu Mu wants to go with me, I won't refuse. Thanks for your kind words."

As the school bell rang, the impatient students, once again amidst the hoarse shouts of the students on duty, shouldered their backpacks and ran off. Only the Jelly Trio, who had been assigned tasks, and Xu Youwei, accompanied by Lin Mu, slowly packed their bags, preparing to avoid this peak period before heading to the Academic Affairs Office building.

"Did you secretly do your homework during class again today?"

While haphazardly stuffing his books and homework into his schoolbag, Zhong Yu didn't forget to pop a candy into his mouth and then toss two more to Lu Cheng and Chen Junqian.

"Yeah, do you want to copy it?"

"Ahem, could you please not discuss this kind of topic in front of me, the class monitor, next time?"

"It's okay, we're all buddies. You're not going to tell the teacher anyway. I'll just copy a couple of questions wrong on purpose."

Faced with the math problem book that Chen Junqian tossed to him, Zhong Yu accepted it with a grin, patting his chest and promising him:

"Next time you want to participate in any event, just come to me, or I can help you level up your QQ account, I'll even get you a few suns."

"There's no need for that. I've already figured out my home computer password, so I have much more freedom when it comes to going online than before."

Chen Junqian tore open the packaging, casually tossed the candy into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and then tossed it into the trash can behind the classroom. Compared to the sour candy that was almost sour it could be used to prank people, this candy was undoubtedly much sweeter. In no time, his tongue and lips were filled with a sweet taste, and his mouth naturally watered.

"Let's go."

Zhong Yu slung his backpack over his shoulder. Since entering the upper grades, he had never properly carried a backpack. He always wore it with only one strap hanging down, looking cool. Today, Chen Junqian simply followed suit and encouraged Lu Cheng to do the same, truly achieving the feat of 'three carefree slackers on a scenic path'.

Of course, when they arrived at the teaching building, the three of them straightened their backpacks again and walked into the selection venue with an increasingly solemn and serious demeanor, only to find that there were quite a lot of people there.

There are eight classes in their grade, and at least four students from each class came. In addition, there were relatives and friends like Lin Mu to help them. As a result, the fourth floor was filled with students standing and sitting from the classrooms to the corridors. It was only because the Dean of Students' shiny bald head could suppress his aura that it felt like the place would turn into a noisy marketplace at any moment.

However, the selection process was not as serious as Chen Junqian and the others had imagined. Basically, everyone just had to stand up straight, tuck in their stomachs, and raise their heads as much as possible, walk in front of the dean of students, stand for ten seconds to check their posture, and say a few words like "Hello, teacher" and "Thank you, teacher," which he and Zhong Yu had heard many times before. It was a very fast process.

After almost everyone had passed through the round, the head of the teaching department didn't keep them hanging and telling them to go back and wait for news. Instead, he immediately began the Khan's Great Military Selection, picking out the students who had passed the test.

To Chen Junqian's surprise, it turned out that he and Xu Youwei were the ones from Class 4 who ended up getting this job. Perhaps because they thought that working in pairs would make things easier, the head of the teaching department paired up the boys and girls, then announced that everyone should register and officially take over the baton from the previous class starting next week according to the rotation order. That was the end of that matter.

Zhong Yu and Lu Cheng didn't react much to their failure to be selected. After all, the former had already passed his initial enthusiasm, while the latter had only wanted to help the homeroom teacher. So, after jokingly telling Chen Junqian to go easy on their class in the future, they left. Lin Mu, on the other hand, blinked slightly after learning about the result.

"Is Vivi coming home with me today?"

"No, Mu Mu and I don't go that way, so there's nothing I can do."

Xu Youwei still seemed to be a lone wolf on her way home from school today. Lin Mu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but still had to show a regretful expression on his face. He winked at Chen Junqian twice, indicating that he would wait for him outside the school gate.

"I'll be going now. My home is quite far from the school, and my family will scold me if I get back late. Thank you, Mumu, for waiting here with me for so long."

I don’t know if she noticed Lin Mu’s rather deliberate, rather than subtle, 'big' move, but after tilting her head, Xu Youwei also ran away on the spot. If Chen Junqian hadn’t discovered that she was still wandering around the streets for two hours after school yesterday, he probably would have believed her.

As Lin Mu and Chen Junqian walked out of the school gate with their backpacks, Lin Mu's gaze was quickly drawn to the various snacks and treats in the nearby shops. Seeing the spicy strips that his classmates were holding, their lips glistening with oil, he suddenly reached out and tugged at Chen Junqian's sleeve:

"Hey, tell me, is there such a thing as spicy strip fried rice?"

It's fair to say that kids this age really can't resist spicy snacks and instant noodles—foods that are high in oil, salt, and spice. Let alone spicy snack fried rice, Chen Junqian even remembered eating spicy snacks with rice and soaking rice in instant noodle seasoning when he was a kid. But after his rebirth, he definitely couldn't eat those things again, so he immediately shook his head.

"You only have a few dollars left, so you should save them. Besides, eating too many spicy snacks will cause pimples on your face."

"...Even the way they speak is just like my parents. I thought I could eat whatever I wanted during the week they were gone."

Hearing this, Lin Mu kicked at the pebbles on the roadside, feeling a little sullen, but he still obediently listened to Chen Junqian and didn't say anything about wanting to eat this or that. Instead, he took out a small gadget from his pocket.

"We don't need to go to the market today, so let's play this on the way to pass the time. Ta-da—I made this during my afternoon break."

As she spoke, she enthusiastically slipped the origami-like toy onto the thumbs and index fingers of her left and right hands. The four large characters 'East, South, West, North' written on the paper moved up and down, left and right, with the movement of her fingers, and other characters could be vaguely seen inside.

So this is the game. I feel like it was their childhood version of Truth or Dare.

Holding this in mind, and not forgetting the rules of the game, Chen Junqian casually gave out two mysterious code names that sounded a bit incomprehensible to outsiders:

"North wind, five down."

"okay."

After receiving Chen Junqian's instructions, Lin Mu, who had closed his four fingers again, began to slowly and carefully open and close the four corners on his fingers one after another. When he counted to five, he showed the side with the north written on it to Chen Junqian. The words written below it were 'What profession do you most want to do in the future?'

"As for her profession... I think she's a writer."

"The writer, speaking of which, Chen Junqian's Chinese language scores are indeed quite good, it's just that his handwriting isn't very good. His Chinese teacher once said that you are the first two of the Four Pillars of Hebei, namely Yan Liang and Wen Chou who were beheaded by Guan Yu."

At this point, Lin Mu couldn't help but smile.

"She has a fairly good-looking face, but her handwriting is terrible, which doesn't fit the saying that 'you can tell a lot about a person just by looking at their handwriting.'"

"Look, look, my handwriting matches my impression perfectly, doesn't it? I'm still taking calligraphy classes on weekends now."

After glancing at the other person's handwriting in the cardinal directions, Chen Junqian did not deny that the other person's handwriting was indeed better than his own, which was as messy as a dog's scrawl. The strokes were clear and neat, making him one of the best among elementary school students of this age.

"I also practiced calligraphy during the summer vacation. You'll see when the next exam comes. Okay, I've finished answering my questions. It's your turn. You made the cardinal directions. To be fair, I'll give the instructions, okay?"

"Okay, go ahead and say it."

Since the original intention of creating this was to get to know her new friend, and she didn't want to make friends with someone like Xu Youwei who didn't actually know anything about the other person, Lin Mu readily agreed. She playfully moved her fingers, which were encased in the four corners of her hand, in front of Chen Junqian's face, almost reminding him of the biohazard mode she had played in CrossFire the night before.

But without a doubt, the smiling girl in front of him was much cuter than the bio-zombie Little Red in the game.

Chapter Nine: A Child's Self-Esteem

As Chen Junqian said "South wind, three times," Lin Mu earnestly turned the origami to the corresponding page in front of him and read out the question written on it:

What's your birthday?

"My birthday is October 10th, but that's the Gregorian calendar date. My lunar birthday is September 13th. My family usually celebrates my lunar birthday. My tenth birthday is in about a month. My parents say that my tenth birthday is very important and formal. They say they invite a lot of relatives over for a banquet."

After mentioning her own birthday, Lin Mu subconsciously wanted to ask Chen Junqian his birthday, but then remembered that he hadn't found that question yet, so she held back for the moment and started turning the pages of her origami again:

"Alright, alright, now it's your turn, Chen Junqian. Hurry up and say it."

"Hmm... let's use Dongfeng this time."

Since it was only a single movement, Lin Mu gently flicked his index finger upwards, then excitedly read out the question:

"What is your favorite game? (It must be a two-player game from 4399 or 7k7k)."

"How can there be such a limitation..."

Although he said that, Chen Junqian still recalled the two-player games he and Duan Xin had played on their own or each other's computers over the past two years, and answered somewhat uncertainly:

"If we only consider the playtime, then the longest one should be Journey to the West, but there are actually many other two-player games that we also have a lot of fun, such as Gold Miner, Two-Player Spinning Cars, and Bubble Fighter, which are all pretty good."

"Oh, I see. I've played all the ones you mentioned later. That's great. I thought you boys would prefer fighting games with one player against another. I didn't expect them to be the two-player cooperative games."

Hearing Lin Mu bring up these two types of two-player games, Chen Junqian felt a bit emotional. The reason he preferred cooperation to competition was mainly because he couldn't beat Duan Xin's hand speed in any aspect. Whether it was the current King of Fighters or the Bleach vs. Naruto game that became incredibly popular in their computer classes a few years later, he was always the one getting crushed by the other. He preferred to play a game called Fire and Ice, which a certain Bilibili up-master would play with himself every Qixi Festival.

However, he remembered that the game wouldn't be officially released until the end of this year. Judging from Lin Mu's intentions, he could explore it with her, who was already more inclined towards this type of game.

"Next, next..."

Since there were only eight questions that could actually be written down, the two of them managed to ask all the questions in no time on the not-so-long journey home. They learned about each other's birthdays, favorite and disliked foods, books, and games, and felt that they were much more familiar with each other than the day before.

When the two of them arrived at Lin Mu's door again, Lin Mu was unlocking the door while continuing to mutter to himself:

"Actually, after you left yesterday, Chen Junqian, I suddenly realized that there are disposable shoe covers in the shoe cabinet at home. But, but, wouldn't wearing shoe covers make me feel like I'm in a computer class? Chen Junqian came to my house to play and visit, so I should definitely change my shoes."

As she spoke, after opening the door and going inside, she quickly put on her shoes, then, without even putting down her schoolbag, ran to her balcony, grabbed a pair of shoes that had been drying in the sun all day from the windowsill, bent down, and placed them in front of Chen Junqian, looking somewhat smug and proud, saying:

"These are the smallest shoes Dad owned that I found last night. They should be more comfortable than the oversized ones from yesterday. I washed them with laundry detergent last night, and the sun is shining brightly today, so they won't get dirty."

"...Trouble."

"No trouble at all, after all, you came here specifically to cook for me."

Although he had already witnessed Chen Junqian's excellent cooking skills yesterday, Lin Mu, who had been taught safety awareness such as fire and electricity safety by his parents since childhood, still took a fully armed stance today. He was even more prepared than yesterday's relatively hasty actions. Not only was the landline phone still on, but he also picked up the lid of another pot and held it in his hand like a shield.

"Don't worry, I checked online last night. If a pan of oil catches fire, never pour water on it. Instead, cover it with a lid to cut off the air supply, and the fire will go out on its own."

Although Lin Mu said this, seeing her quail-like posture of taking several steps back as soon as the oil splattered into the pan, just like yesterday, Chen Junqian felt that if something really happened, he probably couldn't count on her.

Of course, the probability of something going wrong is almost zero.

He deftly poured the egg mixture from the bowl into the pan, along with the leftover cold rice from yesterday, the last remaining half of a sausage from the refrigerator, a little chopped green onion, and Lao Gan Ma chili sauce that hadn't gone bad yet. A bowl of fried rice, which was simple enough for Chen Junqian and could almost be considered a basic skill, was steaming hot in front of Lin Mu.

"It's delicious!"

Although Lin Mu still has a childlike dislike for ginger and garlic, she doesn't dislike a little bit of scallion. Since the time it took to come back and cook today was much shorter than yesterday, Chen Junqian wasn't in a hurry to go back like yesterday. Instead, he sat next to her and watched Lin Mu's reaction with a relaxed smile.

When he learned to cook in his previous life, he didn't have many friends around him who could share his emotions and experiences with him. Now that he has been reborn, seeing his skills recognized by others will inevitably bring him a sense of satisfaction.

Children of this age, regardless of gender, generally have a large appetite. In addition, Chen Junqian intentionally controlled the amount when he cooked, so Lin Mu quickly finished the whole bowl of fried rice. After wiping his mouth with the tissues on the table, he subconsciously said, "It's really delicious."

"I'll come back to wash the dishes later... If you're not in a hurry to go home, could you come down for a walk with me? There are a lot of fitness facilities in our neighborhood, but usually no one plays with me."

Unlike the factory dormitory building where Chen Junqian's family lived, Green Gull Garden, as a proper commercial housing community, is much better in terms of both green environment and various infrastructure configurations. The equipment she was talking about, whether it was fitness facilities or children's play facilities, was part of it.

"Well, let's get down there."

After confirming that there was still plenty of time, Chen Junqian nodded in agreement. Then, Lin Mu led him to an open area specially set aside in the residential area, where there was a wide variety of equipment, from small slides to space walkers to seesaws.

There weren't many people at this time, and there were more elderly people than children. Considering that Lin Mu had just finished eating, Chen Junqian simply invited her to sit on the seesaw. After playing on it for a while, they moved to two space walkers side by side not far away.

Although the name sounds quite futuristic, it's actually just about having your feet placed on a slightly suspended footboard, and then using your waist to swing back and forth in the air like a swing. It's supposedly designed to train the lower limbs and waist by simulating walking or skiing.

Chen Junqian himself had seen people who were particularly good at this game and could do a 360-degree spin, but he and Lin Mu obviously couldn't do that. The two of them simply swung their legs up and down, chatting while feeling the evening breeze on their faces.

"Besides calligraphy, does Lin Mu attend any other extracurricular classes on weekends?"

"Yes, my mom enrolled me in an English class because my English grades aren't very good, eh eh... I admit that."

Lin Mu was clearly not very good at English, a subject that was added to the main curriculum last year. Rather, her grades had always been average in the class, but her English was so bad that her parents worriedly enrolled her in an extracurricular class.

"You know Angli, the one over on Hejin Road?"

"Angli, I've heard of it. I think a lot of people in our school take English tutoring there."

Upon hearing the name mentioned, Chen Junqian suddenly remembered that he would be sent there for tutoring next year because he was struggling with English. However, now that he had been reborn, his past foundation was more than enough to handle elementary school courses, so he probably wouldn't have to go there again.

"Yeah, Chen Junqian, what about you?"

“I’m not attending any training classes right now. I just go back to my grandparents’ village home on weekends. They often go to the market to sell vegetables, so as you can see, I’m quite used to it.”

“I see… My grandparents and maternal grandparents all live in the mountains far away. They have to watch over the hickory nuts, and it takes them a long bus ride to get back. I’m quite envious that you can go back every week and don’t have to attend extracurricular classes!”

At this point, Lin Mu was also quite disappointed; even the arc of his legs swinging upwards dropped significantly, changing from a swaying motion to a wriggling one.

"After all, Chen Junqian's grades are really good. He's always among the top students in every exam."

Compared to the lower grades where students can easily get perfect scores with just a little effort, the gap in academic performance begins to emerge in the upper grades of elementary school, starting from the fourth grade. This leads to the various extracurricular tutoring programs that have transformed from genuine "interest classes" into "training classes" for students.

"I was thinking that if you were free this weekend, you could come over to my house and teach me while you're at it."

"I usually come back to the city on Sunday afternoons. You should be free that afternoon, so it's not impossible."

"Yes, I have calligraphy class on Saturday mornings and English class on Saturday afternoons. I'm free all day on Sundays, so we can do our homework together."

"Okay, I'll send you a message on QQ before I come."

After reaffirming a short-term agreement with the other party, not for a hundred years, Chen Junqian glanced at the gradually darkening sky, nimbly jumped off the space walker, and picked up his backpack from the side.

"I'm going back."

"Um, bye-bye, or rather, see you?"

"Naseyo".

After saying goodbye to the little girl who seemed a bit reluctant to leave, Chen Junqian found the nearby bus stop with the same ease as yesterday.